Business readers turning to Twitter for answers

It seems the social landscape is shifting yet again for B2B companies…

20% of top level executives are spending more time reading Tweets than online news publications. It represents a slow shift which IBM says in the next 5 years will see social media become a primary interaction tool with clients and partners. If you’re one for numbers, that’s a predicted 57% of customer interactions which will take place on social media compared with 16% now.

For B2B marketers, this is a real sign that social is permanently transforming the way businesses interact. A quick look at Linkedin which is the largest source of leads for B2B marketers shows that only 47% of marketers say they are actively engaged on the network. However according to Jeff Bullas, 33% of global b2b buyers use social media to engage with their vendors, and 75% expect to use social media in future purchases processes.